Man accused of threat against Jewish centre in Ohio detained

A man has been arrested on telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing charges after allegedly making a threat to a Jewish centre in Ohio.

James Reardon Jr, 20, was arrested by New Middletown police at his home in Mahoning County Village on Saturday after a threatening post appeared on Instagram.

Police Chief Vincent D’Egidio said Reardon allegedly posted a video of a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle captioned: “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon”, according to WKBN-TV.

Reardon is scheduled to be arraigned by video on Monday in Struthers Municipal Court.

The post tagged the Jewish Community Centre of Youngstown, and authorities say the Instagram account was Reardon’s.

Police said rounds of ammunition, semi-automatic weapons and anti-Semitic information were found at his house.

Andy Lipkin, Youngstown Area Jewish Federation’s executive vice president, said they were aware of the incident and were working with police.

“I want to stress that we know of no other threat to the Jewish Community or to any of our agencies at this point it time,” he said in a statement posted on the organisation’s website .

“Nonetheless, I have directed that we maintain the additional level of security for the near future.”

The incident comes after a gunman opened fire in a popular entertainment district in Dayton, Ohio on August 4.

Connor Betts shot dead nine people with a .223-calibre rifle in the streets of the Oregon District, but was shot dead by police less than a minute after he started firing.

His 22-year-old sister Megan was the youngest victim in the mass shooting, which followed less than 24 hours after a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, which left 22 people dead and more than two dozen injured.